8607-508 Understanding Organisational Culture and Ethics

Unit Overview

8607-508 Understanding Organisational Culture and Ethics is a unit within the ILM Level 5 qualification in leadership and management that is aligned with being able to effectively understand the context of the organisation. Organisational culture and ethics are principles that dictate the practices and approaches that have been developed within the organisation to achieve specific goals and objectives. This factor determines the practices that are viewed to be good and acceptable to the organisation in accomplishing its goals and objectives. Organisational culture informs the development of policies and procedures within the organisation.

 This involves practices that are designed to guide the human resource and employees within the workplace in pursuing the desired goals and objectives as well as leadership behaviours and styles that can be embraced within the organisation. The organisation's ethics, on the other hand, examines the impacts of the selected practices, processes and procedures on individuals, society and the environment hence helping to ensure that these practices have a positive contribution towards the immediate setting of the organisation. As such, it is important for stakeholder to understand the organisational culture and ethics that improves the efficiency and appropriateness of their practices.

8607-508 Understanding Organisational Culture and Ethics is a unit that is aimed at improving this awareness. It ensures that the learners understand and develop the ability to create organisational practices that are guided by ethics and culture. It helps them to understand the influence of these factors on leadership style and organisational structure that is effective in their areas of responsibility. This unit is taught in 12 hours of guided learning and contributes 3 credit values towards the completion of the ILM Level 5 qualification in leadership and management.

Suitability of the Unit

Leaders must ensure that they facilitate the development of practices and policies within the organisation that are guided by the established culture and ethics. This involves being able to understand the context of the organisation and its impact on its immediate environment, including people and the environment. As such, leaders must be guided to develop principles and leadership styles that are based on appropriate ethical principles and values as well as are based on the organisational culture. By using this principle, the leaders are able to contribute positively towards delving into a desired working environment that has positive contributions towards the market.

Therefore, 8607-508 Understanding Organizational Culture and Ethics is a unit that is suitable for individuals, especially those in leadership positions, since it ensures that they understand the organisational culture and ethics and its influence in developing leadership styles and organisation structure.The unit is designed to meet the learning needs of middle managers. These leaders within the organisation are involved in building effective plans and structures that guide the organisation within their specific area of responsibility.

However, this unit is significantly versatile. The content of the unit can be applied in different areas of the organisation, making it critical for other leaders as well; the organisational executive leaders are responsible for overseeing the development of organisation practices, procedures and policies and can use this content to ensure that these policies are guided by the specific values and principles of culture and ethics, team leader can also use the information to build effective teams that contribute towards achievement of team goals and objectives. Lastly, the employees can use the content of this unit to build better professional performance and prepare them for leadership roles and responsibilities in future.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the unit, the learners should be able to:

• Analyse their organisation’s policies, procedures and practices that are related to ethical consideration in various areas of operation and a range of activities

• Explain the ethical considerations and organisational cultures that influence leadership style and organisational structure

• Evaluate the effective leadership styles in their areas of responsibility or organisations based on culture and ethics embraced within the workplace

Key Areas of Learning

8607-508 Understanding Organisational Culture and Ethics focuses on understanding the influence of organisational culture and ethics on leadership styles and operations within the workplace. Some of the key learning areas that are covered in this unit include:

Organisational Culture and Ethics

In this area of learning, the learners are introduced to different principles of organisational culture and ethics. They are guided to identify areas where they can implement the principles of culture and ethics within their workplace and in practice. The learner is also introduced to key concepts such as corporate social responsibility and the use of resources to achieve organisational goals. They are also introduced to ethical considerations in different areas of practice and activities within the workplace.

Influence of Culture and Ethics on Leadership Style and Organisation Structure

This area helps the learner to develop an understanding of the influence of organisational culture and ethics on leadership styles and organisational structure. They are introduced to modules such as cultural web and those that revolve around culture and strategy to ensure they can effectively understand this relationship between culture and ethics with leadership styles. The learners are also taught about different leadership and management styles and the role that culture and ethics can play in shaping this leadership technique. Lastly, they are introduced to the concept of subcultures in management which facilitate empowerment, delegation and leadership.

Leveraging Ethics and Culture to Improve Organisational Structure and Leadership Style

This area of learning helps the learner to understand approaches that they can use to implement the information learned on organisational culture and ethics into practice. They are guided to use the information to develop an effective leadership style and organisational structure within their context.

Evaluation

The evaluation process is critical in ensuring that learning goals and objectives are achieved. For this unit, the evaluation is done using a Witten assessment for the summative assessments. Formative assessment is conducted in different phases, which include simulated exercises, supervised practice and case studies.